Mind the gap

Even before the boom in psychology that Inception inspired, psychoanalytical training has been steadily growing into a big business in China's major cities.

"Search the word 'psychoanalysis' on the Internet in China and you'll find an everlasting list of advertisements for ongoing psychological training," said Huang Hsuan-ying, a Taiwan-born expert in anthropology at Harvard University.

"If you do the same search in the West, you'll probably find lots of historical documents," he said.

According to Adam Crabtree, vice-president of the Canadian Psychological Association in Toronto, as Freud is now a fixture of Western culture, with constant references made in television shows, books and magazines, people have stopped appreciating his work. Yet, in China his theories are comparatively still new.

"His psychoanalysis deals with ordinary things, such as quarrels, pride and pressure," added Huang. "These things echo with the current state of mind of many Chinese."

Although psychoanalysis is already developed in Asian countries like South Korea, Japan and India, the demand being seen in China today is unprecedented. As a result, the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA), which was founded in 1910 to advocate Freudian thought, last month celebrated its 100th anniversary by staging its biennial conference in Beijing, the first time it has been held in Asia.

More than 600 experts from the United States and Australia, as well as European and Asian countries, took part in 140 panels and workshops over four days.

Despite the progress, however, psychoanalysis remains relatively immature in China. The country's standard qualification for psychological consultants, which was only introduced by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security in 2002, is today often criticized.

"Anyone who is interested in psychology can sign up for the (national) test and most can pass with less than half a year of rough training," said Yang Yunping, a professor of psychiatry and clinical psychology at Capital Medical University of China, who argued that to become a professional psychologist should require years of hands-on practice.

He estimated that the ministry has granted more than 200,000 certificates in the last eight years, although "the number actually capable of doing the job is less than 10 percent".

Lu Chengyu, an experienced psychotherapist in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, said he feels that the fact most psychological practices fail is evidence of the poor level of professional skills nationwide.

"Of the 600 students I've trained since 1997, fewer than 50 are still in the business," he said. Lu receives on average three patients a day, but "many new consultants can't even get a client a week", he added.

The lack of qualified professionals and the growing hunger among the public for consultation has resulted in greater pressure for China's limited number of mental health clinics.

At Zhongshan Hospital in Shanghai, for example, doctors see roughly 20 to 30 people a day. "With that kind of number, we don't really have time to talk to each patient," said psychiatrist Zhang Ronghua. "We just prescribe medication to most of them."

International organizations are helping China to train psychologists through several programs, with the main ones run in cooperation with groups from Germany, Norway and the China American Psychoanalytic Alliance (CAPA). Professionals from around the globe offer low-cost or even pro bono guidance to students.